By this statement, Creon means that the person who searches will find what they are looking for while the person who waits is blind. Blind in this context is more than a physical condition; it suggests a mental blindness to reality as well. This statement reveals the pain and suffering the citizens are enduring, their crops are being destroyed, women are in agony when they are giving birth, and the plague has taken the lives of numerous individuals, all in all, the city of Thebes is in great distress. Additionally, at some point, King Oedipus and his wife Jocasta discuss the oracle and dismiss it saying that the fulfillment of its prophecies has not happened (Sophocles, p26). The only way to destroy this plague is to seek out the individual who murdered King Laius. Want 100 or more? Feel free to get in touch with us via email to: Summarystory.com provides students with professional writing and editing assistance. The audience already understands Oedipus history well before he does. So powerful is the force of fate that Zeus himself could not defy his own. Has great power, Teiresias with secrets, that has no physical sight. What characteristics should I address. On discovering this, Jocasta hangs herself and Oedipus blinds himself and goes to exile while Creon, Jocastas brother and therefore his uncle, succeeds him as King of Thebes. A huge theme in this writing is sight versus blindness and the obvious symbol to back-up this theme is eyes, ones with vision and ones without . From the very start, Oedipus was fated to fulfill Apollos hereditary prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother. He discovers that he is his own fathers killer and that he has married his mother with whom she has had four children. Was this the norm in this era to do such drastic harm to their child? The only way to destroy this plague is to seek out the individual who murdered King Laius. This was very unusual in Sophocles' time and culture. Many focus on the descriptive details of the prophesy itself- the incest, rather than the true essance of the play: the tension between in invidiual action and fate. United States: Oxford University Press. What news does the Corinthian Messenger announce? Oedipus Rex or Oedipus the King - GradeSaver ""who seeks shall find; The duty to bury the dead is part of what it means to be human, not part of what it means to be a citizen. When his wife, Jocasta, gave birth to a son, she had bounded his feet and gave him to a shepherd leave in the mountains (so that the baby would die). See in text(Oedipus the King). The protagonist Oedipus has power, high status and a great influence in Thebes. The theme of sight and blindness is undoubtedly important to notice while reading Oedipus the King. Additionally, another prophecy states that the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta would kill his father and sleep with his mother.

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